LOOPnew Australian video art

A NETS VicToriA TouriNg ExhibiTioN dEVElopEd by hAmilToN ArT gAllEry

education

resource

opposite:The Shape of Between 2006still from DVDsound: Marcus KaiserHamilton Art Gallery CollectionCourtesy the artist and Gallery Barry Keldoulis (Sydney)

contents

Teachers’ notes 05

Introduction to the exhibition 06

Starting points: Later years (level 8-10) 11 Middle years (level 5-8) 17Early years (level 1-3) 21

Online resources 23

Glossary 25

teachers’

notes

This education resource is intended as a starting point for generating ideas and classroom activities before, during and after a visit to Loop: new Australian video art and is intended to complement and be used in addition to information provided in the exhibition catalogue, gallery wall texts and on the NETS website <www.netsvictoria.org.au>.

The resource includes an introduction to the exhibition, together with suggested points for discussion and practical activities for early, middle and later years students. It is suggested that teachers select relevant sections of this resource to compile their own exhibition response sheet for students prior to their planned visit.

Pre-viewing planningBefore visiting Loop: new Australian video art it is suggested that you contact gallery staff to determine the following:

Suitability of exhibition content and subject •matter for the year level you plan to bring.Whether staff are available to give an •introductory talk.Opening hours, transport and parking •options, cloakroom facilities and whether admission fees apply.

Curriculum linksThis education resource draws upon the interrelated and core strands of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) for The Arts and selected learning outcomes of VCE Art and Studio Arts.

AimsThrough viewing the exhibition students are encouraged to:

Visually analyse and respond to media art •works in the exhibition.

Explore the range of media and materials •available to contemporary artists and how the way artists use media and materials may contribute to our understanding of their work.

Consider the issues of display, presentation •and context involved in the presentation of contemporary video-based artwork.

Use works in the exhibition as a starting •point for their own creative investigations.

Research the work of other artists (both •contemporary and past) whose work engages with similar themes and ideas.

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Introduction to the exhibitionLoop: new Australian video art showcases video works by five contemporary Australian artists. As Daniel Palmer has observed: “Video is now part of the practice of many, if not most, of Australia’s best known contemporary artists.”1 This exhibition aims to provide regional audiences with an introduction to this art form, which is rarely seen outside of metropolitan contemporary art spaces. The artists in Loop: new Australian video art explore themes including the body, space, time, urbanisation and art history through contrasting techniques particular to the medium of video such as time manipulation, animation and image extension. The exhibition presents Jess MacNeil’s The Shape of Between (2006) and Opera House Steps (2006); Arlo Mountford’s The Wanderer Meets the Pioneer (2006); Daniel Crooks’ Static No.9 (2005); Shaun Gladwell’s Storm Sequence (2000) and Daniel von Sturmer’s Screen Test (sequence 1-4) (2004).

In organising this exhibition curator Daniel McOwan was particularly interested in exploring the convergences between painting and time-based works and the ways in which the exhibiting artists’ interests or backgrounds in painting had influenced and informed their video works.

As artists experiment with and extend the possibilities of time-based mediums such as video and film the terminology and language used to describe their work constantly shifts and changes as well. The term ‘new media’, which has previously been used to refer to artworks incorporating video and film is no longer appropriate, as from the late 1950s artists have been experimenting with these time-based media. The more accurate term ‘media arts’ is currently used to refer to video art and has been used as such in this resource.

Artists> Daniel Crooks> Shaun Gladwell> Jess MacNeil> Arlo Mountford> Daniel von Sturmer

Artists’ backgroundDaniel CrooksDaniel Crooks was born in Hastings, New Zealand in 1973 and currently lives and works in Melbourne. The artist is a graduate of the Auckland Institute of Technology and the Victorian College of the Arts School of Film and Television. Crooks’ films and photography have been exhibited both locally and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include: Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam; Level 2 Project Space, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (both 2005), and Time Slice held at the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), Melbourne (2002). Daniel Crooks work was included in Primavera at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney in 2003. He was a resident artist at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam (2004–05) and at the Australia Council Studio, London, UK (2005).

Daniel Crooks’ practice includes photography, digital media and installation. Using a range of techniques including stop-motion animation, time-lapse and precision camera motion control Daniel Crooks breaks down the conventional relationship between time and space. His complex time structures reveal a sensibility seemingly at odds with the ordinariness of the subject matter, including the motion of trams, trains, elevators and city pedestrians. Many of his video artworks explore the boundaries of the medium itself. With Static No.9 (a small section of something larger) the artist continues his investigation into space and time incorporating slices of video footage of pedestrians and abstracting them into shapes mimicking strands of DNA.

Daniel Crooks is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery.

Shaun GladwellShaun Gladwell was born in 1972 and grew up in Sydney’s western suburbs. He completed an Honours degree at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney and postgraduate research at the College of Fine Arts (COFA), University of New South Wales. In 2001 he completed Associate Research at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and has since undertaken numerous residencies and commissions. His work has been exhibited in major national and international exhibitions.

Gladwell’s works in performance, video, painting and sculpture are inspired by and critically engage personal history, memory, art history and contemporary culture. Gladwell has explored the relationship of the body in space and the culture of extreme sports (in particular the practice of skateboarding) in a series of works Linework (2000), Kickflipper: fragments edit (2000-03) and Storm Sequence (2000). In Storm Sequence the artist

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executes a series of freestyle skateboard moves on a flat space of concrete above the crashing waves at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach. The slowed down footage of the skateboarder, shot slightly from below, is mesmerising and hypnotic. Taking inspiration from British artist William Turner’s sublime land and seascapes, the work reflects on the romantic notion of the isolated artist. The dramatic tension in the work builds as drops of rain appear on the camera’s lens; dark clouds gather on the horizon; and the artificial ‘storm’ of electronic noise created by sound artist Kazumichi Grime herald the imminent arrival of a storm.

Shaun Gladwell is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery.

Daniel von SturmerDaniel von Sturmer was born in 1972 in Auckland, New Zealand. He completed a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts in 1996 and a Master of Arts (by Research) in 1999, both at RMIT University, Melbourne. Further studies were undertaken at the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2002-2003. The artist has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally; some of his most recent exhibitions include: Screen Test, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand (2004); A Molecular History of Everything, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2004); and Material From Another Medium, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (2001). Daniel von Sturmer was one of three artists to represent Australia at the 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007 with his exhibition in the Australian Pavilion, The Object of Things.

Daniel von Sturmer is known for his ‘experiments with space’. His video installations and architectural interventions confound the viewer’s sense of space, scale and orientation, and test our perception. Using everyday objects the artist creates visual experiments playing with gravity and weightlessness, movement and stillness.

Daniel von Sturmer is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery. Daniel von Sturmer’s website is: www.danielvonsturmer.com

Jess MacNeilJess MacNeil was born in 1977 in Nova Scotia, Canada. She completed a Master of Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney in 2004 and in 2007 was a recipient of an Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship. She has exhibited widely and was recently included in Strange Times at the Art Organisation, International Gallery, Liverpool UK (2006) and in the Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship, Artspace, Sydney.

Jess MacNeil’s practice encompasses painting, photography and video. Much of her work explores the convergence of these mediums and the recurring themes of absence/presence and stillness/movement. A set of photo-paintings made by the artist of people traversing the steps of the iconic Sydney Opera House

building provided the source material for the video work Opera House Steps. In these, the artist has traced and delineated the figures and their various trajectories in opaque white paint. In Opera House Steps the artist has used digital manipulation to meticulously remove the physical forms of people using the steps, leaving only their shadows as evidence.

On a recent stay in Varanasi, India Jess MacNeil filmed boats on the River Ganges at twilight. In The Shape of Between, the artist plays with time and focal point: extending one hundred seconds of this original footage to almost thirteen minutes. The artist has slowed, and looped the video: the four boats and their occupants never complete their journey, which is circuitous and unending.

Jess MacNeil is represented by Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney.

Arlo Mountford Arlo Mountford was born in 1978 in Honiton, Devon, United Kingdom. He arrived in Australia in 1983 and lives and works in Melbourne. He completed a Diploma of Fine Art at the Western Australian College of Art, Design and Multimedia, Perth in 1998 and a Bachelor of Fine Art (Sculpture) at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) in 2002. Since 2001 he has held solo exhibitions at artist run spaces and group exhibitions in Australia, most recently his work was included in 21st Century Modern, the 2006 Adelaide Biennale of Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia and Imagine…the creativity shaping our future at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2006). Arlo Mountford was awarded the 2002 ‘ANZ Award’ as a result of his participation in Proud at the Victorian College of the Arts. He held a studio residency at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne in 2003.

Arlo Mountford works primarily with large-scale installations that incorporate sound, video and animation. His witty and often macabre works use humour, self-reflexivity and appropriation – devices relating to postmodernism – to explore art history, popular culture, the role of the artist and the contextual relationship between contemporary art practice and the past.

In The Wanderer Meets the Pioneer the artist continues his ongoing investigation into art history and its relevance to contemporary art practice. He uses his characteristic abstracted stick figures, and a multitude of references to iconic Australian films, songs and international and Australian artworks, to present his own view of art history from a contemporary perspective. The work was included in the recent exhibition Imagine…the creativity shaping our future at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne and includes references to Heide’s history and place in Australian art.

Daniel CROOKSStatic No.9 (a small section of something larger)2005still from DVDHamilton Art Gallery CollectionCourtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery

starting

points

iSSuES for diScuSSioN ANd prAcTicAl AcTiViTiES

Shaun GLADWELLStorm Sequence2000still from DVDvideography: Técha Noblesound: Kazumichi Grimecommissioned by Peter FayCourtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery

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Explore and respondSydney artist Shaun Gladwell makes paintings and videos that draw on his personal experience and also reference contemporary culture, urbanisation and art history. He has been a skater since the age of eight and after an injury prevented him pursuing his ambition to become a professional skateboarder, he began experimenting with video. Some of his first experiments with video were shots of his brothers jumping over paintings on their bikes.2 Many of his works explore the relationship between the body and physical space.

The artist says of his work: “My practice poetically and critically links personal experience with art historical, philosophical and cultural discourse. Recent video works engage these concerns through forms of urban expression such as skateboarding, hip-hop graffiti, BMX bike riding and break-dancing. A series of ambient structural manipulations are made to recorded performances in order to critically oppose popular representations, namely the fast and furious jump cuts of MTV montage.

The slow-motion, framing and viewpoints of my work are composed in order to open performances to a range or readings that play within and against art historical genres and concepts such as romantic portraiture, landscape, religious allegory and the death reckoning of vanitas and momento mori.” 3

Shaun Gladwell’s work Storm Sequence shows the artist executing a series of freestyle skateboard manoeuvres on a concrete shelf overlooking Sydney’s Bondi Beach. While skateboarding is often associated with an urban street culture or environment, for Storm Sequence the artist has chosen a stormy seascape as the backdrop for his artwork.

You can respond to and discuss media artworks (such as video and animation) using the same language and terminology that is used to discuss traditional or older media forms (such as painting, sculpture etc).

Later Years (8-10)

In • Storm Sequence discuss the artist’s use of art elements. In your response refer to any two of the following art elements: space, colour, form, movement, surface, sound and composition.

How has the artist used compositional or •structural devices in the work? For example consider the placement of the figure in space and the use of harmony, framing, contrast, space, cropping, repetition, sequence, movement and rhythm. Refer to two of the above compositional or structural devices in your response.

When footage of extreme sports is shown on television it is often speeded up and accompanied by a loud and frenetic soundtrack. Compare this with the way in which Shaun Gladwell has filmed and presented himself freestyle skateboarding in Storm Sequence.

What special video effects or techniques (i.e. •jump cuts, looping, zooming, slow motion etc) has the artist used?

How does the artist use these effects to •create a mood or atmosphere in this work?

Could the artist have created the same •feeling or mood that he creates in this video work if he had used a different medium, for example painting?

Why do you think the artist has chosen to •slow down footage of the skateboarder when the skill of performing these moves relies on speed?

For this work the artist used digital video •footage. Could he have achieved the same effect if he had used analogue video? Why/why not?

How has the artist used viewpoint, framing •and camera angle? Does the angle or position of the camera shift? What effect does this have on how you view the work?

Does the work remind you of anything else or •evoke any memories or associations for you? What are they?

In urban environments laws determine the use of public spaces, with skateboarding often seen as a disruptive or nuisance element that is prohibited in public areas. In Storm Sequence there is a contrast between the subject matter and the context where it is presented.

What are the key themes or ideas that •you believe the artist is exploring in Storm Sequence?

Why do you think the artist might be •interested in representing extreme sports and skateboarding in his artwork and presenting them in a gallery context?

How does the way that the work is presented •in the gallery space and the use of lighting and sound affect how you view the work?

Do you think there are any symbolic or •metaphorical meanings or messages in the work? What might they be? Give reasons based on your observations of the work and by making reference to one or more of the commentaries below.

‘I didn’t even know he was a skateboarder. I was just transfixed by the beauty of this image of this skater pirouetting in slow motion, with the huge drama of the sea; the seascape behind him this incredible storm at sea. All these were elements of luck; the storm and so forth. And then with the rain falling on the lens of the camera transforming what was a video piece it becomes almost a pointillist, almost an impressionist painting, as the blurring, still with this figure eternally circling almost like an angel or some celestial body ready to return to another void; to another planet; to another world.’ 4

“Storm Sequence” (2003), challenges and extends the historical fascination with notions of the sublime. Gladwell, facing an impending storm kicks and flips his skateboard on the wet slippery edge of the Bondi promenade. This spectacle, performed with surfboard riders caught in the play of distant waves, historically draws on Turner’s bold approach to painting in the mid nineteenth century. However, Gladwell with his use of digital video, has caught himself within the terror of the storm – no longer looking towards the storm from a safe distance and able to seize the image in one frame/moment of looking, but rather he maintains his performance as the storm shifts across the promenade – the “stage”. 5

Research Shaun Gladwell’s practice further, •along with the work of 19th century German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich [1774-1840]. Why do you think the romantic sublime might appeal to contemporary artists? Discuss how Shaun Gladwell’s practice has been influenced and inspired by notions of the romantic sublime.

Presenting artworks to an audience: the purpose and presentation context Loop: new Australian video art presents the work of five contemporary media artists. Exhibitions incorporating time-based media like video can present challenges to smaller and or/regional galleries who may be more used to displays of traditional object-based art works. This can be due to a combination of factors including:

The technology and expertise involved: •gallery staff might feel apprehensive accepting an exhibition of media work and have concerns about equipment maintenance and/or malfunctions.

Concerns about the display and presentation •of media work, including whether works with sound components might interfere with other displays. How to display media artworks that require a darkened space alongside permanent exhibits, and how best to encourage people to engage with media art.

Lack of resources: galleries may not have •had resources to enable them to display and present exhibitions by artists using media art, which often require expensive audio-visual technology and equipment and/or custom built environments.

Artists exploring different ways to display and present media workContemporary artists are continually exploring and experimenting with new ways to display and present their works and how gallery visitors engage with it. For artists presenting video and film-based works this has seen a movement away from a monitor-based format, to displays that might include single, multi-screen, or projected presentations or incorporating the video work as part of a site-specific or sculptural installation. 6

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Daniel VON STURMERScreen Test #42004from the series Screen Test #1-4still from DVDRHS Abbot Bequest Fund 2006Bendigo Art Gallery CollectionCourtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery

When preparing and presenting Loop: new Australian video art for public display the exhibition curator, artists and participating galleries have had to consider how best to present and display these works taking into account the complexities they pose in terms of long-term storage, conservation, and temporary exhibition display.

Why do you think curators might be reluctant •to exhibit media works such as video art? For a curator what differences might there be between organising an exhibition of photography, painting, works on paper or sculpture and organising an exhibition of media works?

What special demands might be made •on galleries and curators exhibiting video and technology-based artworks? Consider lighting, sound, technical assistance, display, space, and power requirements.

How might the marketing and promotion •of media art like video differ from more conventional media such as painting, sculpture and photography?

How important is the context in which we •view artworks? If the artworks in Loop: new Australian video art were presented in a different context, for example on a website like YouTube or in a cinema, would this affect your understanding of the work?

Two works in • Loop: new Australian video art are projected directly onto the wall, three are exhibited on wall-mounted LCD monitors and Daniel von Sturmer’s work (Screen Test - Sequence #1 and #4) is displayed as a brightly-lit installation consisting: one floor-mounted flat stand, which is projected upon and one corner-shaped projection screen that uses two projections to form the corner of a cube. How does the display and presentation of the works in this exhibition differ from the way that more traditional works such as paintings are displayed? What similarities in the presentation are there?

Discuss how the display and presentation of •Daniel von Sturmer’s work in this exhibition has influenced your understanding of it (refer to the installation of the work, use of wall texts, screens, any custom-built components, labels, lighting, sound, etc)

Conservation and preservation issuesAs the technologies used to make and present media art works such as film, video tapes, video recorders, web browsers, software and operating systems become obsolete, media art faces issues around the challenges of presenting and preserving artwork beyond the time of its contemporary production. Methods of preservation exist, including the translation of a work from an obsolete medium into a related new medium; the digital archiving of media; and the use of emulators to preserve work dependent on obsolete software or operating system environments.

Consider what issues there might be for galleries/collectors purchasing media artworks for their collections. For example whether the technology to present media artworks will still be available in 5, 10 or even 20 years time.

What happens if the technology that was •used to make and display an artwork becomes obsolete? Is it ethical to transfer a work created on one format to another for the purposes of storage and display? Who should be involved in making these decisions?

What other conservation and preservation •issues or concerns might there be with video-based works? For example how might these works be catalogued, stored and conserved?

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Create and makeUsing Shaun Gladwell’s Storm Sequence as a starting point, classroom discussions could focus on youth culture, social issues and/or the students’ own interests and hobbies. Students can discuss making and presenting a short collaborative digital video or film-based work that communicates their interests and understanding of themselves. Using a video camera or the video function of a mobile telephone or a digital camera and associated computer programs:

Experiment with what effects and images •you might use to create a feeling or mood in the work that is relevant to the subject matter.

Experiment with different filming and editing •techniques and processes to present your idea. When filming the work consider the following: framing, focal point, camera angle, choreography, duration and zooming etc. When editing the work consider using effects such as digital manipulation, looping, sound etc.

Discuss how best to present this work, for •example will it be projected, presented on a monitor, or part of an installation? Who is the audience for this artwork and how might you best present it to your intended audience? Consider how to best engage your audience, think about display, promotion and presentation issues including marketing, lighting, sound, seating etc.

Research and investigateIf you plan to use a soundtrack that •incorporates pre-recorded or sampled music, research the legal and ethical considerations involved in using existing music recordings in your work. You can find out more about this on the Art Education Victoria website: www.aev.vic.edu.au/online_resources/copyright.html

Research contemporary Australian artists •whose art works explore and include representations of youth and/or youth sub-cultures including Matthew Bradley, Donna Bailey, Ben Morieson, Arlene TextaQueen, The Kingpins, Ben Quilty, Lyndal Walker, Brendan Lee, David Rosetzky.

Research the work of contemporary artists •Bill Viola (US), Adad Hannah (Canada), Douglas Gordon (UK), Gillian Wearing (UK) and Lynette Wallworth (Australian) and their treatments and manipulations of time, space and movement.

There are a number of national and •international projects currently researching ways to improve the preservation, documentation and future access to digital media forms including the National Library of Australia’s Preserving Access to Digital Information (PADI) initiative. Find out more at: www.nla.gov.au/padi/topics/132.html

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Jess MACNEILOpera House Steps March2006still from DVDHamilton Art Gallery CollectionCourtesy the artist and Gallery Barry Keldoulis (Sydney)

middle Years (5-8)

Explore and respondJess MacNeil is an artist working with the mediums of photography, painting and digital video. In her video works she uses digital manipulation and effects such as looping, sound and slow motion to create mood and atmosphere.

Watch Jess MacNeil’s digital videos The Shape of Between and Opera House Steps. Choose one of the works and respond to the following questions.

What idea do you think the artist is trying to •communicate with this work? Could it have any other meanings?

What does the work remind you of? What •other associations are there for you?

Discuss how the artist has used art elements •in this work. In your response refer to any two of the following art elements: space, colour, form, movement, surface, sound and composition.

Based on your understanding of the way that •the artist has used art elements in the work what style of work is this, for example is it abstract, realistic etc?

How has the artist used perspective and •focal point in this video, i.e. is it single point or multiple point perspective? What effect does this create in the work?

How has the artist used video-specific •effects such as slow motion, looping, zooming etc. Discuss how the use of these effects has contributed to the mood or atmosphere created in the work.

Discuss how the artist has used sound in this •work? How does it assist you to understand the work?

Jess MacNeil’s practice allows: “absence •to play an active role in the interpretation of her subject matter and medium.” 7 How has the artist represented opposing ideas of absence/presence and stillness/movement in her videos?

Do you have a favourite work in the •exhibition? What is it and why do you like it?

How do the works in • Loop: Video Art Now compare to other video-based works that you have seen i.e music videos. What ways are they similar? In what ways do they differ?

Choose any two other works in the exhibition •and compare and contrast the artists’ approaches. Write down the artists’ names and the titles of the two artworks you are discussing. Compare subject matter, themes, style, and any meanings and/or messages that you attribute to the two works you are discussing.

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Static No.9 (a small section of something larger)2005still from DVDHamilton Art Gallery CollectionCourtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery

Creating and makingJess MacNeil, Daniel Crooks and Shaun Gladwell represent cities and urbanised environment in their videos and explore ways that people interact with these spaces. Using Jess MacNeil’s videos as a starting point, students could experiment with a range of media and materials to explore how the oppositional concepts of stillness/movement and absence/presence might be represented in an artwork.

Jess MacNeil uses her own photographs, often taken on her travels, as the inspiration for her paintings and videos. In some of her photo-paintings she has used white acrylic paint on photo paper to block out and/or highlight sections of the image. Discuss how what you leave out or remove from an artwork can be just as important as what you put in.

Photograph the natural and/or urban •environment and then experiment with removing or altering aspects of the work to create a new meaning. For example use acrylic paint on the photograph, remove sections of the image using a knife or scissors, or use computer applications like Photoshop to manipulate your photographs. A further method of manipulating these images is to photocopy them and experiment with enlarging or reducing the image using coloured paper and repetition.

Researching and investigating Find out more about Jess MacNeil’s •art practice. She is represented by Gallery Barry Keldoulis, you can look at images of her paintings and photo-paintings and view The Shape of Between and Opera House Steps on the gallery website: www.gbk.com.au

Research how artists from different •times and cultures have used perspective in their artworks, for example the tradition in Eastern art of using of multiple points of perspective. Research artists including Giovanni Battista Piranesi [1720-1778] and MC Escher [1898-1972] and investigate the different ways that they have experimented with and used perspective.

Research contemporary artist Guan •Wei. Compare his treatment of space and the themes of voyaging and migration in his work with Jess MacNeil’s work The Shape of Between.

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Arlo MOUNTFORDThe Wanderer Meets the Pioneer2006still from DVDHeide Museum of Modern Art CollectionCourtesy the artist

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early Years (1-3)

Exploring and responding In The Wanderer Meets the Pioneer Arlo Mountford uses animated stick figures, and references to iconic Australian films, songs and artworks to tell his own version of events in Australian art history.

Draw three objects that appear in this work. •

Tell a short story including these three •objects.

Do you recognise any of the art works shown •in this work?

Do the stick figures that the artist uses •remind you of anything else?

Does the work remind you of anything?•

Making and creatingUsing Arlo Mountford’s work The Wanderer Meets the Pioneer as a starting point show students reproductions of some of the iconic Australian artworks that Mountford has referenced including: Frederick McCubbin’s The Pioneers (1904), John Brack’s Collins Street, 5pm (1955) and Charles Blackman’s Alice in Wonderland series (1956-57).

Read students a short description of the works and have students discuss any messages and meanings they attach to the selected artworks.

Students could write a short story in •response to one of the artworks they have been shown, imagining that they are a key character in the artwork and retelling the story from their point of view.

From the images you have shown them •have students choose a work to respond to. Make an A3 photocopy of the selected work. Using pictures and texts from magazines and comics students could use collage to reinterpret and change the meaning of the original work. Students could also use watercolour or pencil to add their own parts to the work. Discuss how what they have added or removed can change the meaning of the work

Combining text and image students could •then create a comic strip, using five frames to explore ways of conveying an idea in a number of simple sequential drawings.

online

resources

ATOM Queensland www.pa.ash.org.au/atomqld/This site has many items of interest for media educators for both primary and secondary and includes a very useful web links section.

Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI)www.acmi.net.au/The Australian Centre for the Moving Image is a state-of-the-art centre for the public exhibition, display and preservation of Australian and international screen content in all its forms. ACMI’s screen education program encourages creativity, inspires imagination and greater enjoyment of film and new media. The Learn section of the website features teaching resources and excellent links to other sites.

Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) www.anat.org.auANAT is Australia’s peak network and advocacy body for artists working with technology. The role of ANAT is to advocate, support and promote the arts and artists in the interaction between art, technology and science, nationally and internationally. ANAT’s website includes links to artist sites and a comprehensive listing of and links to funding bodies, organisations and agencies that provide for funding and support for artists working with new media.

Screen Education and Metro Journals www.metromagazine.com.auMetro magazine is Australia’s oldest, continuously published film and media magazine. Metro and Screen Education is ideal for primary and secondary teachers concerned with screen literacy and media studies. Join the Metro and Screen Education email list for information on forthcoming issues; calls for writers; book, video and CD-ROM reviewers; and free screenings of feature films and documentaries. The website features a range of resources and services including teachers’ notes, and details of media practitioners who are available to visit your school.

DLux media artswww.dlux.org.audLux media|arts is one of Australia’s key screen and media arts organisations, committed to supporting the development a screen, sound and new media arts development, engagement and experience of Australian screen and digital media culture.

Experimenta www.experimenta.orgExperimenta presents innovative exhibitions and events in new media arts, film, video, sound and performance. Featuring the work of emerging and established artists, Experimenta screenings, installations and performances are held in cinemas, in galleries, online and in a variety of less conventional exhibition contexts.

New Media Encyclopaediawww.newmedia-arts.org/This site includes ‘Chronological Landmarks’ section tracing key developments in digital media arts from the 1950s to today and the intersection between old and new media technologies.

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glossary

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Digital Art Digital Art refers to art that is either completely computer generated, or art that has been digitised (for example, by scanning a traditional painting into a computer form, or digitally photographing a 3D art work.)

Emulator A hardware or software device or program created to perform the same operation of another program or a piece of hardware.

Stop-motion A technique used in animation where static objects are made to appear to move.

Installation A work of art that you experience through more than one sense. Installation art can incorporate any media to create a visceral and/or conceptual experience in a particular environment. Video installation works may involve several distinct pieces of video presented separately, such as multiple screen, projected or monitor-based presentations, or any combination of video with traditional media such as sculpture.

Looping Technique used in the editing process to enable the video to run continuously and seamlessly with no visible beginning or end.

Media artA generic term used to describe art related to, or created with, a technology invented or made widely available since the mid-20th Century. Media art takes the form of, or includes video, digitally produced images, animation as well as work made from newer and emerging technologies.

Paik, Nam June (b.1932) The beginnings of video as art are associated with the Korean-born American artist Nam June Paik [1932-2006] and German artist Wolf Vostell [1932-1998] who first exhibited their work at the Parnass Gallery in Wuppertal, (West) Germany, in 1963. In 1965 Nam June Paik, a member of the Fluxus group, made his first tapes with the new portable Sony camera, and screened them several hours later at Café à Go Go in New York. The artist also incorporated the television set into his sculptural work.

Video Art Video art’s beginnings are associated with Korean-born American artist Nam June Paik. Artists use video technology in remarkably varied ways. Video has been used either as a simple recording device for happenings, actions, and performances or as a more experimental tool for exploring the electronic properties of the medium. Video cameras and monitors can also be combined in sculptures and installations or associated with computers. Video art is named after the videotape, which was the most commonly used format in the late 1950s and early 1960s when this art form developed. Prior to that artists had been experimenting with film as an art form. Recent technological developments have seen formats including Hard Disk, CD-ROM and DVD supersede the videotape as the dominant carrier.

Endnotes

1 Daniel Palmer, ‘Medium Without a Memory: Australian Video Art’, in Broadsheet vol. 33, no. 3, September–November 2004, p. 20.2 Penny Craswell, ‘Profile Shaun Gladwell’, Experiment: Mesh 17 New Media Art in Australia and Asia www.experimenta.org/mesh/mesh17/gladwell.htm (accessed: 18 July 2007)3 Shaun Gladwell, Artist statement, Fountain on ACMI website: www.acmi.net.au/fountain.aspx (accessed 9 August 2007). Shaun Gladwell’s digital video work Fountain can be viewed on this page. 4 Dr Deborah Hart, Senior Curator of Australian Paintings and Sculpture at the National Gallery of Australia, interview with Peter Fay about Shaun Gladwell’s Storm Sequence, included in Home Sweet Home: works from the Peter Fay collection(11 October – 18 January 2004) at the National Gallery of Australia. An image of the work, along with an audio excerpt and transcription is available at: www.nga.gov.au/HomeSweetHome/Default.cfm (accessed: 25 July 2007)5 Sally Breen, ‘Remixes for a new[ish] millennium’, Shaun Gladwell: New Balance, at Perth Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), (12 February – 21 March, 2004) www.pica.org.au/art04/Gladwell04.html (accessed: 24 July 2007)6 For a full discussion of Australian video art see Daniel Palmer, ‘Medium Without a Memory: Australian Video Art’, Broadsheet vol. 33, no. 3, September–November 2004 pp. 20-21.7 Clare Lewis, ‘Jess MacNeil: The Shape of Between’, on Gallery Barry Keldoulis website, www.gbk.com.au (accessed: 24 July 2007)

Loop: new Australian video art education resourcePublished by National Exhibitions Touring Support ((NETS) Victoria

© NETS Victoria, artists and writer, 2007

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NETS Victoria is the peak body for visual arts touring in the state of Victoria. We provide opportunities for regional Victorians to access and engage with the best contemporary art, craft and design.

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Tour itineraryHamilton Art Gallery 19 September – 28 October 2007

Warrnambool Art Gallery 26 April – 15 June 2008

Ararat Regional Art Gallery 21 June – 27 July 2008

Horsham Regional Art Gallery 9 September – 2 November 2008

Ballarat Fine Art Gallery 10 December 2008 – 26 January 2009

Bendigo Art Gallery 1 April – 26 April 2009

Dubbo Regional Gallery,Western Plains Cultural Centre 16 May – 2 August 2009

www.netsvictoria.org/loopA comprehensive online resource featuring background information, education resources, interviews and tour updates